I’m excited to report the key insights I took away from Predii's first trip to the NADA Show in New Orleans, LA.  Huge thanks to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) for putting on such a fantastic event.
Ten inches of snow certainly made the trip an adventure for everyone, but it was well worth the effort! The amount of energy and excitement at the show is a tribute to this industry and the value of people getting together to network, walk the show floor, and learn about and discuss the key advances being made across the automotive dealership ecosystem.
The people I met with at NADA 2025, and the general feeling around the show, highlighted that artificial intelligence (AI) is a major focus for dealers. Dealers are looking to leverage AI to optimize data-driven fixed operations, decision-making, and customer experiences at every stage along the customer’s automotive repair journey.
My Key Takeaways
I walked away from the show with a clear understanding that dealerships are looking to utilize AI to:
Drive efficiencies across fixed operations.
Provide initial repair estimates based on actual repair history of the same YMME with similar mileage and symptoms.
Enhance lead generation and help respond to customer inquiries in real time by embracing AI virtual assistants.
Help anticipate customer preferences and offer personalized maintenance recommendations by leveraging AI-powered predictive analytics.
Power the parts look-up and inventory management system to ensure just-in-time stocking decisions, reduce returns, and limit lost sales opportunities.
Enhance diagnostic tools to help technicians with vehicle inspections and guided repair to do the job faster, correctly, and not have the customer return the next day.
Create a win-win for themselves and their customers by increasing revenue and avoiding breakdowns by leveraging actual repair history to predict component failures before they happen.
The people I spoke with at the show were also interested in exploring other AI adoption considerations like security, privacy, cost, competitive advantage, execution steps, and ethical considerations. All great topics to explore in future articles.
On the privacy front for instance, there are certainly data privacy concerns around the handling of customer data responsibly. One must make sure any bias is limited and controlled when AI is applied to decision making. There is also the non-human vs. human interaction questions to consider – specifically, how does one balance the efficiency and productivity that fine-tuned automotive AI can bring to the table versus relationship building and the costs associated with real human interaction. These are all valid concerns that need to be addressed when engaging an AI partner. It is crucial to understand that general AI and automotive fine-tuned AI are far from the same thing.
Predii is here to help address these issues and answer these questions.
To sum it up, perhaps my biggest takeaway from our first trip to the NADA Show was that AI does not seem optional anymore – it is now considered a strategic imperative.
AI is now a competitive necessity. One that is both expected and accepted by one’s consumers and dealers alike.
How Predii Can Help
I admit, coming from an automotive AI provider, all the attention given to AI at an industry event like NADA 2025 was exciting. I kept saying to myself - this is what Predii can do! We’ve been at this AI thing for over 12 years. We’ve processed billions of automotive repair events and can help unlock so many opportunities.
Predii is 100% focused on offering a fine-tuned automotive AI layer to help maximize efficiency across fixed operations and help optimize the parts, service and repair workflow. At Predii, we help customers leverage the value of the millions of historical repair events locked inside their databases.
Whether you are focused on applying AI to help maximize fixed operations workflow or enhancing employee-customer interactions, Predii can help leverage your historical repair data and support your business as it enters the next era of automotive repair.
To learn more about Predii and its automotive AI capabilities, I encourage to you to take a look at our last few Predii Perspective articles: 4 Strategic Factors for Adopting AI in the Automotive Industry, Ever Wonder Exactly What AI Learns and What it Does Not?, The Benefits of Automotive Domain-specific AI. You can also read more about Predii in-action at Predii.com. If you want to learn more, please connect with me, or reach out to us via the Predii website.
If you have any additional observations or thoughts from NADA2025, please share them in the comments!
Here’s to seeing you next year in Las Vegas at NADA 2026!